Wednesday, July 30, 2008

I had my doubts that this month's Daring Bakers challenge would actually get done. I was away from my kitchen every weekend of the month. But something told me that I would enjoy the result of this challenge, so I rallied and did some daring baking the day before posting! (I'm usually not a procrastinator with such things) The challenge was a filbert gateau (i.e. cake) moistened with simple syrup, layered with praline buttercream, topped with apricot glaze, and finished with a chocolate ganache. Being the Texas girl that I am, instead of using hazelnuts for the challenge, I used the nut of our beloved state tree (and my mom's favorite); the pecan. I must admit that with the time crunch, it was tempting to crack open a bag of pre-made pralines. But in the spirit of the challenge, I made them from scratch. Growing up, my mom and sister often made pralines and often complained about the finicky nature of candy making, especially in a humid climate. My experience was no different (I singed the ends of my hair!), luckily it didn't matter that I had one massive praline because it went in the food processor to making praline paste. But just to show I made them, here they are....Veganizing this challenge was a cinch. For the originally egg-laden genoise, I used the recipe for the virtuous vanilla cake from Great Good Dairy Free Desserts Naturally, substituting 1 cup of ground pecans for the 1 cup of whole wheat flour called for. For the buttercream, I used the tried and true fluffy buttercream recipe from VCTOTW, adding a splash of Grand Marnier to complement the apricot glaze. The combination of the praline paste and buttercream yielded amazing results. Now I am a bit saddened that I only made a mini-cake. At least I have this last piece of cake to enjoy....Next up, my baking adventure in NYC! (promise, this daring bakers challenge really snuck up on me!)

60 comments:

I love it! I also love that finding pre-made pralines was an option for you! In the Midwest, pralines are only found mixed in with vanilla ice cream in some of the old time ice cream parlors! I had one lady confuse pralines with prawns!

Does that look awesome, or what?!!! Great job! I really could have used your praline expertise. I never did get a "paste" from my pralines.

Good job, too, for getting this done so fast! Mine took me several days to complete (only being able to work on it an hour or two at a time). It looks like you had a lot of fun with this project and the final result looks delicious!

WHOA! - that cake is drop dead gorgeous!! I bet it was totally delicious. Nicely done. Very nicely done :) and kudos to you for doing such a great job under time constraints, with all that traveling, etc!!

Wow! You are so awesome at this! And good for you for subbing pecans. Pecans are pretty big down here too (or I guess I'm up from you). But anyway, beautiful cake. I only wish I could have a bite...sigh...

Wow! Amazing job!! I should have used pecans too since I was in Georgia for this challenge. And it's good to know other vegan bakers used other cookbooks for resources too - thinking of replacing all those eggs was nightmarish!

Amazing that a vegan version of this cake was possible!!! Only question - pls could you link to the actual cake recipe you used, as your link only goes to the book cover... and the buttercream recipe too please!!

Wow! Stunning. I halved my recipe too... I was amazed when it was so yummy - but not when the cake disappeared.Time consuming or not this looks like a cake that will be made more than once - for special occasions.

Go to the head of the class woman! Your cake is genius. I can taste it in my mind, though you have no idea how I yearn for a taste (traveling far from vegan bakeries I am). Per the praline, be careful all. You might try the candied pecans in More GGDFDN and grind those another time. Or just try them since pecans are available to you.

You are a phenom and I honored to have had the opportunity to bake with you.Cheers,Fran